HUNDREDS of passengers were late home from holiday after their flight to Bournemouth was diverted to London Gatwick.

A spokesman for airline Thomson said flight TOM169 from Barbados was diverted due to adverse weather conditions, believed to be low cloud.

The flight was due to land around 7am on Sunday morning but instead passengers were brought to Bournemouth by coach.

"We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to passengers travelling on TOM169 from Bridgetown, Barbados to Bournemouth this weekend" said the spokesman.

"The flight was diverted to London Gatwick due to adverse weather conditions at Bournemouth airport. We arranged coach transportation between the two airports for our customers.

"The safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance and we would like to reassure customers that issues of this nature are rare."